diff --git a/.github/workflows/python-unittests.yaml b/.github/workflows/python-unittests.yaml
index abd079520..99661a70b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/python-unittests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/python-unittests.yaml
@@ -28,6 +28,14 @@ jobs:
           architecture: x64
       - name: Checkout TorchX
         uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - name: Pin pip-25.0.1
+        run: |
+          set -eux
+          # required since pip-25.1 breaks a few old deps in dev-requirements.txt
+          # (upgrading those will take some time)
+          # see: https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/news/#v25-1
+          python -m pip install pip==25.0.1
+          pip --version
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |
           set -eux
diff --git a/dev-requirements.txt b/dev-requirements.txt
index 7b6469987..474edd3bb 100644
--- a/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ kubernetes==25.3.0
 flake8==3.9.0
 fsspec==2024.3.1
 s3fs==2024.3.1
-google-api-core
 google-cloud-batch==0.17.14
 google-cloud-logging==3.10.0
 google-cloud-runtimeconfig==0.34.0